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Australian woman loses relatives in 2 Malaysia air disasters

Kaylene Mann

In this March 25, 2014, photo, Kaylene Mann, right, and Jayden Burrows hold hands as they read a statement to the media in Brisbane, Australia, about the loss of Rod Burrows, who is Kaylene's brother and Jayden's father. Rod Burrows was among six Australians killed when Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 crashed into the Southern Indian ocean. On Friday, July 18, 2014, Mann found out that her stepdaughter, Maree Rizk, was killed along with 297 others on Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, which U.S. intelligence authorities believe was shot down by a surface-to-air missile. (AP Photo/AAP, Dan Peled)
(Dan Peled)

Kaylene Mann's brother Rod Burrows and sister-in-law Mary Burrows were on board Flight 370 when it vanished in March. On Friday, Mann found out that her stepdaughter, Maree Rizk, was killed along with 297 others on Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, which U.S. intelligence authorities believe was shot down by a surface-to-air missile.

Burrows said his family was struggling to understand how they could be struck by such horrible luck on two separate occasions with the same airline.

"She just lost a brother and now a stepdaughter, so..." he said of his sister, his voice trailing off.

Rizk and her husband Albert, of Melbourne, were returning home from a four-week holiday in Europe, said Phil Lithgow, president of the Sunbury Football Club, with which the family was heavily involved. Albert, a real estate agent, was a member of the club's committee, Maree was a volunteer in the canteen and their son, James, plays on the club's team.

"They were very lovely people," Lithgow said. "You wouldn't hear a bad word about them -- very generous with their time in the community, very community-minded, and just really very entertaining people to be with."

The club members planned to wear black armbands and observe a minute of silence to honor the Rizks at their game on Saturday, Lithgow said.

Despite the twin tragedies, Burrows said he holds nothing against Malaysia Airlines.

"Nobody could predict they were going to get shot down," he said. "That was out of their hands."